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The one that
really kicked off the plug revival was the famous Big "O".
It was highly publicized as the
ultimate bass catcher and the boys were buying 'em up like mad.
Pretty soon all you heard about was
how the bass were hitting Big"O's" and nothing else. After
a while it became evident to even the most
casual observer why--that was the only lure in the water!! Of course
that was the lure taking the bass.
It was the only one being fished. You'd see guys with egg cartons
full of them, handling those things like
they were gold or something and afraid one would get broken. I remember
it well. I had four egg cartons,
myself.
And, they
caught their share of bass, too. A few well scarred veterans still
adorn the wall of my den.
The Big "O" had one major fault, however--it basically
ran a certain depth and that was it. Oh, if you used
a different size line, it could be made to run a foot or two shallower
or deeper. But, generally speaking,
four to five feet was its range.
We've learned
a lot since those days. Primarily, we've learned that there is only
one really significant
question one should ask oneself when reaching in the old possum
belly for a lure--"What is the depth
range I want to fish?" That's it. The Prime Directive. The
secret of the Pharaohs. Color, lure size, shape,
brand name--they don't mean a thing unless we address the depth
question first. And, even then, those
other attributes don't really make a lot of difference.
An old bass
is a predator. Mother nature gave him a physical build aimed at
one major thing-- eating!!
The rascal is like the old fishy movie star, Jaws. He's made to
eat and he'll take on anything that will fit
(or come close to fitting) in that big old mouth. I'm sure you've
all seen a hooked bass spit up a handful
of partially digested shad. Now, you KNOW that fish wasn't really
hungry. Heck, his belly was so full he
couldn't have possibly eaten that Balsa B, even if it were food.
Why did he jump on it than? His instincts
tell him to grab whatever comes by and worry about what to do with
it later.
I've fed bass
in a tank I keep and can say, for a fact, that three dozen shiners
will more that satisfy
the appetite of a pair of two pound largemouths. The interesting
thing is what they do after they've eaten
all they can. Those two bass will go around and kill all the rest
of the shiners in the tank. Then, they hold
as many in their mouths as they can, settle to the bottom, and occasionally
swallow one as the belly
space becomes available. If that ain't being a predator in capital
letters, I don't know what is.
Being so aggressive
and always on the ready for groceries, Mr. Bass really does you
and me a favor.
It makes him pretty easy to catch. The only hard part about filling
the live well is finding him. Do that and
you can pretty well catch him if you present a lure it front of
his face. And, now, dear hearts, we have
reached the core of our discussion.
We've got
to find the bass first, right? In a number of our previous articles,
we've given the methods to
do that, so we'll assume we reasonably know how to isolate the productive
water. The next requirement
is to get the lure in front of old Hogjaw's face. Let us suppose
that a school of them basses are hanging
out on a creek channel break in 15 feet of water and our all-time
favorite lure is the old Big "O"! Gonna
slay them hawgs, ain't ye, Vern? Not hardly. Not unless you put
a three ounce slip sinker in front of it.
How about
it if old Hermongous is laid up in a stump field in three feet of
water? Gonna pull out the
old Magnum Hellbender, huh? Of course not, and I don't mean to insult
your intelligence by suggesting
you might. These extreme examples are just to make a point--that
is that the lure needs to be one which
will run in the depth range that the bass are holding. This can
be refined down to the point of making
minor depth adjustments by changing the size of line being used
or holding the rod tip higher or lower.
Bass will
instinctively strike a moving object. Outside of Winter, the faster
that object is traveling, the
more likely we are to have him hit it. The predator instinct is
that strong. He'll still hit it, even if not on a
feed, but we might have to get it closer to him. The critter might
not want to get up and go chase it too
far, if he is in a fairly dormant state. What we're saying is that
a lipped (diving) crank plug is probably the
most productive lure a basser can use, IF he selects and uses it
correctly.
Disregarding very
shallow sub-surface lures, diving crank plugs generally fall within
three depth categories:
Shallow - 3 to 6 feet
Mid-range - 7 to 12 feet
Deep - 13 to 16 (below this depth we lose control and feel, unless
trolling)
An angler's lure selection should accommodate these ranges fully.
With a bit of practice, you will be
able to tell the depth range of each of your lures and then be able
to recall it for proper lure selection.
One way to do this is to use the depth finder and note the depth
of the area where the lure strikes
bottom. Generally speaking, bass lay on, or very near, the bottom
at all times, unless up in the shallow
bank areas on an active feed. Crank plug are most productive when
they are just clipping the bottom or
the structure feature
Prime reasons to
fish a diving crank plug religiously are fourfold:
-
You have
positive depth control.
-
You can cover a
lot of water and catch your fish in a short period of time
(essential in tournament fishing!)
-
You are much
more likely to trigger an instinctive strike.
-
And lastly, but
pretty important, it catches lots of fish.
Sooooo,
if you want to significantly improve you bass fishing success, you
simply must learn to
properly select and present a diving crank plug. Remember, a "cranky"
fisherman is usually a happy
fisherman!!
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